Michelle MacLaren Announced As Wonder Woman Director

Trending News: Wonder Woman Finally Has A Director... And It's A Lady

Why Is This Important?

Because Wonder Woman will be directed by a best-in-the-business filmmaker who just so happens to be a female, meaning we’re getting a take on the character that should eschew any risk of over sexualisation.

Long Story Short

Long Story

Warner Bros. Entertainment has tapped Michelle MacLaren to direct Wonder Woman, the studio’s upcoming feature-length take on one of DC Comics’ most iconic characters. The announcement brings to an end a director search that began in the American summer, and locks in a production that has been on-and-off-again for almost 20 years.

Sources close to The Hollywood Reporter said there was pressure from within the studio to hire a woman director who could guide a character so strongly linked with the notion of female empowerment. Others in the running included Jennifer Kent of the well-regarded horror film The Babadook and Lesli Linka Glatter, director and co-executive producer on Homeland. But Warner Bros. ultimately came back to MacLaren, who they’d originally considered for the job as long ago as August.

Rightly so. MacLaren has had some excellent recent form on cable television, directing eleven episodes of Breaking Bad and more recently providing four exceptional instalments for Game of Thrones over series three and four. Elsewhere, the 48-year-old has overseen episodes of The Walking Dead, Hell on Wheels and NCIS (right now she is filming the second episode of Breaking Bad spinoff, Better Call Saul).

Arguably the best news, though (or maybe the worst, if you’re a territorial screenwriter) is that MacLaren is coming in before a script has been finalised, meaning she should have a hand in shaping the entire story. All this, coupled with the recent announcement of Gal Gadot in the leading role, means things are looking promising.

The Verge reports that MacLaren is only the second female director in a comic book genre that has dominated Hollywood in recent years, after Lexi Alexander delivered Punisher WarZone in 2008. Alexander was actually quoted earlier this month saying she wouldn’t take on Wonder Woman, if offered, because it would be too much pressure. “How many male superhero movies fail?” she asked Fastcompany.com. “So now, we finally get Wonder Woman with a female director, imagine if it fails. And you have no control over marketing, over budget. So without any control, you carry the f—king weight of gender equality for both characters and women directors. No way.”

Own The Conversation

Ask The Big Question: As Devin Faraci at Badass Digest asks, is drafting in MacLaren so early on in the production actually a progressive move, or one designed to leave her holding the baby if things go belly up?

Disrupt Your Feed: The last director attached to Wonder Woman was (surprise, surprise) Joss Whedon. He needs to still be attached if this thing is going to succeed.

Drop This Fact: William Moulton Marston, the comic book creator of Wonder Woman, also created the systolic blood pressure test, which would later form the basis for the polygraph machine.